Unveiled by the British Institute of Kitchen, Bedroom & Bathroom Installation (BiKBBI) at the House of Parliament last year, the Protected scheme that secures fitting monies for consumers and installers has now been rolled out.

Bathroom and kitchen retailers can direct their customers to the Protected website for fitting services from independently, accredited members of the BiKBBI.

Customers pay for their installation service into a financially protected client account, which is paid to the installer upon satisfactory completion of the project.

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In the event of a dispute, both the consumer and installer have access to onsite assessment from the BiKBBI to support resolution.

The consumer is financially protected, as is the installer, and the fitting projects is underpinned by insurance-backed workmanship warranties and standards set by the BiKBBI.

CEO of BiKBBI Damian Walters commented on the rationale for Protected: “Installation is a complex beast and for some retailers can be a real distraction to the business of designing and selling beautiful product.

“For years, retailers have either taken the responsibility, cost and complexity by offering an installation themselves, recommended to third parties, or not offered installation at all.

“All ‘traditional’ options pose differing challenges, but I don’t think that has to be the case now.”

Walters added: “For years retailers have engaged BiKBBI in search of a national installation solution. Sadly, for them, no proven model was available and therefore we were unable to help.

“But with advances in technology, our experience in the industry and our access to thousands of professional installers nationally, we’re delighted to be in a position to present them with a real, tangible solution.”

Kitchen and bathroom retail consumers have already started to use Protected, as Walters reported: “We started to see consumers use it pre-lockdown. The feedback from that was fantastic… and we are starting to get a fairly significant number of consumers wanting to connect with local installers.”